Maliki Baba is only nine years old but his day begins before his age mates are out of bed. As early as a few minutes past 4.00am he is already out of bed and set to start the day, first he prays then he recites Quran, then does his morning chores and finally, he is now set to hit the streets.
By 7.am while other children are preparing for school Baba is already looking for crumbs out there on the streets. It doesn’t matter to him what the source of his livelihood comes from as long as it fills his stomach.
According to the Unicef about 10 million children of school age are out of school in Nigeria.
UNICEF has supported the return of these children and their successful reunion with their families. Only this week the body through the social safety net in conjunction with the government of Kaduna state and has reunited a batch of 2,674 Almajiri children with their parents.
As part of the initiative, UNICEF has also inaugurated the disbursement of N5,000 monthly cash transfer under the project; Children in Street Situation. The children are among over 10, 000 street children already reunited with their families, and expected to enroll in school to gain basic education.
Dr. Wilfred Mamah, Head Unicef Child Protection Services explained that the Children in Street Situation programme is under the United Kingdom National grant, European Union-funded Strengthening Access to Justice for Children on the Move and other Vulnerable Children project.
“The Unicef is working with the Kaduna state Ministry for Human Services and Social Development together with other stakeholders to deliver critical services to Almajiri children who remained at home after their re- unification” said Mamah.
Almajiri system of education is a traditional and none formal system of education which derived it’s curriculum from the Holy Qu’ran and it’s subjects or learners usually between the ages of 4-12years roam the streets begging alms, food and other necessities for survival.
The Hausa word “Almajiri” refers to children of non-formal Qur’anic school who migrate from their homes in search of Islamic knowledge.
Almajirai are children, usually from poor rural backgrounds in Northern Nigeria, who leave their hometowns to study with itinerary teachers of the Qur’an.The term has expanded to refer to any young person who begs on the streets and does not attend secular school.
Regrettably, the Almajiri culture may have already outlived its purpose and there are those who believe that it has become a breeding ground for child abuse of the extreme cases.
Investigators believe that Almajiri is also a potential avenue for the enlistment boys into terrorism and thuggery. Originally, the training is meant to mold students into Islamic scholars, however, it appears that the semi-literate Quranic teachers or Mallams do lack the requisite financial ability to handle the number of pupils they admit in the Qu’ranic institutions.
The out come has rather deprived children of a normal and descent upbringing and further add up to the numbers of out of school school children in Nigeria.
Of the Almajiri children reunited with their families in Kaduna recently, they believed that the support given to them would transform their lives for good.
They said the support has availed them opportunity to acquire formal education and grow to their full potentials.
One of the children, Aminu Waziri, 9, said he was happy to be among the beneficiaries of the programme.
Also, his father, Mr Waziri Mailafiya, from Kudan Local Government Area of the state, said that his son has since been enrolled in public primary school, and promised to support the child to grow and develop.
